Showing posts with label Business and Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business and Management. Show all posts

Saturday, 15 November 2008

Keywords - Boosting Search Engine Rankings

Keywords How to raise your website on searches


In an ever increasingly competitive online marketing, the use of keywords is becoming of greater importance to web advertisers. A keyword is a specific term or phrase which is used to find a relevant website meaning that if they are not right, traffic won't get to your page and profits will be very hard to come by. So, what is the answer to developing keywords that raise your website on search engines?


Wednesday, 12 November 2008

What is Niche Marketing?

The current consumer marketplace is one where we are bombarded with choices. Whether it be mobile phones, cars, internet providers or even baked beans, there is always numerous options to choose from. With the advent of affiliate marketing and the increased competition within the online community, many marketers have started to find it difficult to sell their generic' products. This is where the concept of niche marketing has developed.



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Monday, 31 March 2008

The Apprentice - Back to Unreality

After reading a post on Reduce to Common Sense, I was inspired to write my own piece on The Apprentice (UK style). With the news series starting and another bunch of hopefuls setting their sights on working for Sir Alan Sugar, what are we to expect this time around?
Well, how about a candidate who prices lobster at about a sixth of it's market price? That's right. Our first contestant (interviewee?) to be evicted couldn't even price up fish. To be fair who can blame him? He was a trained lawyer, not a businessman. Why on earth was he on the show? He was not a man who aspired to be an entrepreneur but was just there to be a part of the publicity. More fool him, I'm not too sure who would be looking to take him on now after a total capitulation in the board room.
I'm a fan of The Apprentice but the concept of the show as being Reality TV goes straight over my head. It is greatly entertainting, watching egos get destroyed and people who claim to be 'the best in the world' getting put straight into their place. One female contestant actually suggested she is the best salesperson in Europe. I'd like to see her detailed research into this which no doubt is available (just Google isaythingstomakemefeelgood.com and you'll find it).
The problem I have with the show is the fact that it isn't in any way real. How many jobs have you applied for that require knowledge of accounting, marketing, purchasing, sales, a bit of law and various other bits thrown in. What job are these people actually applying for? If I saw a specification like that I'd run the other way instantly. The whole reason they are there is to appear on TV and nothing more. If Sir Alan wants to find an 'Apprentice,' it won't be here as shown with previous winners who have quit the position within months. It is turning more into the X-Factor every year.
I will watch the series and see how it pans out. I have become rather endeared to Raef who has a clear belief that arrogance and vanity are virtues to behold. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on after confessing in the premiere of the series that he can't manage people other than himself. There is also an Essex boy in there who I'm just waiting to burst out with some sort of Ali G impression.

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Advantages of Going Paperless

In modern day business, many companies are weighing up the option of developing a paperless environment. Electronic management can have a huge impact on the everyday processes and procedures within the company by increasing productivity and streamlining the workflows within. There are numerous benefits to going paperless.
When you are attempting to manage a company with various locations and a number of departments, there may sometimes be two or three copies of the same document and an electronically managed system can eliminate the need for this replication. Take real estate for example where it is often the case that the legal, lease administration and accounting departments will all require a copy of an identical file. This leads to three departments with three totally different filing systems. If an amendment needs to be made, each department will have to be informed so that they can update the requisite document. By scanning the documents and making them available electronically, besides saving space, they become available to everyone who needs them without creating several copies.
A system which is centralised also assists in communication within the company. If all files are being saved to a shared network, they are available to everyone instantly as opposed to the slow process of passing round hard copies. Everybody knows where to look to find the file they are looking for and the overall dynamics of the company can be vastly improved.
By incorporating a web based system into the company, you will be able to allow third parties to view files with ease, without the risk of losing them en route. This could be especially important for legal documents that need to be transferred at speed or for vital information that is required by suppliers. Naturally, you can set limits on the system so that only certain people are able to view specific documents in order to maintain integrity and security. A substantial amount of time can be saved by not having to send copies of documents to various groups but giving instant access instead.
A further benefit of the paperless environment is the speed that you can look something up. Just think about how long it can take to go over to the filing cabinet, sift through hundreds of documents and still not find what you are looking for. With an electronically based system, all it would take is a quick search on the computer, perhaps by keyword of what you are trying to find and it will appear on your screen. As long as the system is managed properly and all documents are named effectively, they will be very easy to locate.
Although it can take a significant amount of time and effort to set up a paperless environment at first, the benefits in the long run will largely outweigh the costs. Once the people within the company get acclimatised to the system you will notice considerable improvements in the time in take to complete tasks and the communication process of doing them.
Click here to view more of this type of article and learn more about the author, Marc Steel

Monday, 10 March 2008

Protecting Your Ideas

In the modern world, everybody is looking for that chance, the golden goose if you will to lift them from obscurity and into the limelight. All it’s going to take is that one idea to lift you from a nobody to a somebody no matter what profession you are in. Just look at the creator of Facebook who at the age of just 23 has made it into the world Rich List for the first time in 2008. However, it’s all well and good finding that elusive idea but how on earth do you go about protecting it from predators in a dog-eat-dog world?


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Sunday, 9 March 2008

Are Supermarkets Taking Over the Retail Sector?

Over the past few years, Tesco have headed a supermarket revolution. The chain of stores has got to a point where they are almost the central attraction in many small towns across the country. You want to post a letter, buy new clothes, get a DVD player, get new hardware or ah yes, buy groceries, Tesco have it all. There is no need to go anywhere else. They even deliver to your door! Tesco are slowly but surely taking over the UK.

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Does Product Packaging Significantly Influence Buying Behaviour?

Mr Smith walks into his local supermarket with his wifes' shopping list. He looks down it and notices 'Neutrogena' so goes to try and find it for her. There are various Neutrogena products on the shelf, each with similarly coloured packaging and no way to tell the difference between any of them apart from something called 'Beta Hydroxy' which of course he had no idea what it was. The only difference between the products was the price, so naturally Mr Smith chose the cheaper option.


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Saturday, 8 March 2008

Interviews. Can You Say Something Whilst Saying Nothing?

You are the perfect candidate. An honours degree at the top University in the country, a decent work history and solid references. So why then did you not get through the first round of interviews? Did you say something wrong? More importantly what did you do wrong?

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How to Measure the Impact of Direct Mail Campaigns

It appears to be a common trend nowadays to say that direct mail campaigns are dead. The development of the Internet has certainly left many more avenues of marketing open but those who suggest direct mailing is dead simply are not implementing their campaign efficiently.

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How to Deal with a Pushy Salesman?

I used to hate it when I went to open the front door only to find a man with a gleaming smile, clutching a clipboard and all ready to venture off into his pitch. Even though the product may well have been something I possibly wanted, I still wasn't prepared to listen to his carry-on. The door would generally be slammed with minutes, or seconds most probably. I'm pretty sure this is the case with most people. However, my perceptions changed since, in one of my many temporary employments, became a door to door salesman.

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Is it acceptable to re-schedule a job interview?

A job interview gives the first insight to a potential employer of a candidates attitude and integrity towards their work. If you feel the need to re-schedule an interview you will be going in there with a point to prove from the outset and find yourself a step behind the other applicants. Naturally, there are some occurances, 'life or feath' situations so to speak that cannot be helped but even in these circumstances, an employer is unlikely to look kindly on re-scheduling. The question really is what is the best way to go about it?

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Word of Mouth Marketing

Word of mouth is potentially the best form of marketing for a business and best of all, is probably the most cost effective! Also known as viral marketing, word of mouth lets your customers do the promotion for you which is the best recommendation that anyone can get. However, it doesn't just happen on its own. The company itself must attempt to influence word of mouth marketing with high impact customer service that achieves that 'wow' factor.

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Friday, 7 March 2008

Should there be a maximum limit that businesses can pay their CEO's?

In the United States at present, the top fifth of the population receives in excess of 50% of the nation's annual income. In contrast the bottom fifth takes home somewhere around 3.5%. Is it just me or is this disparity edging somewhere near to that of a Third World Country? To add to this, the income levels for the top percent are continuing to rise and still declining for the bottom percent. Surely this is quite a serious problem for the United States?

Click here to view the rest of this article and learn more about the author, Marc Steel